UNC Dominates ECU In Season Best Shooting Percentage

Brice Johnson and J.P. Tokoto led the Tar Heels with each scoring 19 points. Johnson led the team in rebounding and set a career high of 17 rebounds. Johnson’s rebounding record surpassed any Tar Heel from last season and this current season.

“We feel a heck of a lot better than we did Wednesday night,” UNC head coach Roy Williams says. “I think we invested a heck of a lot more these last couple of days. Mentally, we were more into the game.”

UNC came off a tough loss against Iowa Wednesday night with a season-low 27.9 percent from the floor, the lowest field goal percentage in a game since 2011. In an amazing turn of events, Carolina had a season-high shooting percentage against ECU, going 60 percent from the floor. Freshman Joel Berry shot 100 percent going 4-4.

“Yesterday we got after it probably as hard as anybody on this team has ever had to practice the day before a game,” Coach Williams says. “But you can’t do the things rebounding-wise and you can’t do the things one-on-one and selfishly like we did Wednesday night to be a good basketball team.”

Coach Williams says it was the little details such as fewer turnovers that led to a well-played game against ECU. UNC only had one turnover in the first half.

North Carolina led 48-29 at halftime on the strength of a 23-5 run beginning midway through the first half. Johnson rounded out the first half scoring 8 out of North Carolina’s final 10 points, 6 of which came after his own offensive rebounds.

“We still have to do a better job rebounding and a better job boxing out, but we shared the ball. Twenty-seven assists for us shooting 60 percent for the game and, again, we were into it mentally and we got to have that same kind of attitude every night,” Coach Williams says.

UNC will continue its nonconference slate Saturday away from home against Kentucky at 12pm.

Carolina Sweeps Hampton In NCAA Tourney 1st Round

The UNC volleyball team advanced to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament after a 3-0 victory over Hampton Friday night in Carmichael Arena.

With the win, the Tar Heels improve to 26-2 overall and remain the seven-seeded team in the final regular season poll. The Pirates drop to 21-11 overall.

UNC finished the regular season on a 17-match winning streak and an ACC Championship title.

“We were well prepared I thought, we knew they were going to be pretty good,” UNC Coach Joe Sagula says. “The team hit .300, which is great to do in an NCAA match. We were able to hold Hampton, who we knew was a very good offensive team, hold them and we were able to block well with 13 blocks.”

UNC senior Lauren McAdoo had three of those blocks and pounded eight kills with a .471 hitting percentage.

“Tonight was definitely one of our best–almost probably–serving games of the whole season. I think almost everyone that served got an ace, at least one, and that’s awesome. That’s doesn’t happen a whole lot in college volleyball so it was pretty impressive,” McAdoo says.

Carolina had a slow start in the match, falling behind 5-2 in the first set. Back-to-back aces from McAdoo brought the teams to a tie at 7-7. Carolina mounted a 25-7 finish in the third set to win the match 3-0.

“We had 12 service aces in the match. Nine errors, though, but most of those were in the first set. We basically wanted to show a little more patience at the service line after that first game,” Sagula says. “Then we started serving better. As we did that, we put the pressure on them. We knew where the ball was going to go.”

UNC dominated the serving and blocking game with 12 aces to to Hampton’s one and 13.0 blocks to only 2.0 for the Pirates.

‘We feel really good about our opportunities here being at home. I think it’s a matter of us putting up what we do well which is to block well, play good defense, serve tough, and hit high percentage. If we do those things, I’ll think we’ll be okay,” Sagula says.

The Tar Heels will compete against Southern California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 6 p.m. in Carmichael Arena.

Pirates Suspend Starting NT Williams Indefinitely

GREENVILLE – East Carolina has suspended starting nose tackle Terry Williams indefinitely for a violation of team policy.

Coach Ruffin McNeill said Tuesday in a statement that Williams “did not adhere to the conduct standards we have in place” but he didn’t say exactly why the junior was suspended.

The two-year starter has nine tackles and a half-sack in the first three games for the Pirates (2-1), who travel to North Carolina on Saturday. Junior Chrishon Rose is expected to start against the Tar Heels in Williams’ absence.

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